Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff has revealed how a delayed reply from Frederic Vasseur hinted to him that Lewis Hamilton would be departing for Ferrari next season.
It was announced ahead of the season commencing that Hamilton had activated a break clause in his Mercedes deal to agree a switch to Ferrari from the beginning of 2025.
Speaking to media including Motorsport Week at the time, Wolff admitted that the news hadn’t been a surprise but conceded that the timing had caught him unaware.
The Mercedes Team Principal has confirmed that the relationship with Hamilton remains intact and the focus for both parties is on ending the partnership on a positive note.
“I think you know when the news broke clearly it is a new situation it’s somewhat something that we didn’t anticipate happening at that stage of the season and it’s a new dynamic and that’s clearly something we have to work on,” Wolff said.
“But having said that, we’ve been together, spent some time in the factory and at various events and it’s absolutely fine on a human level and it’s also in the professional terms, we have a full season to go.
“We want to have the best competitive car, both drivers given the opportunity to do the best possible results and how great would it be to finish on a high with Lewis this year and we’ve had wonderful times and 10 more months to go and we keep it all.”
Ferrari Team Principal Vasseur divulged that the call to Wolff, a long-time friend, was as difficult as the one he had to make informing Carlos Sainz that he wouldn’t be retained.
Wolff has disclosed that he started to get the impression that something could be unfolding when Vasseur failed to respond to a message until the announcement arrived.
Asked whether Vasseur did a good job with their phone call, Wolff remarked: “No, he didn’t do a good job!
“We are friends since a long time and in the same way, we are knowledge that we are competitors on tracks. And so that is a balancing act that is not always easy, because we have the duty and the obligation to perform to the best of our abilities for the interest of our team. And this is what Fred has done in that situation.
“I understand the rationale. Obviously, it’s not always easy in such a good relationship to know how to handle that, but it has no effects or no repercussion on the relationship that I will have with Fred.
“When I sent Fred a WhatsApp two days before he didn’t reply, so I guess I knew. But then, no, Fred didn’t tell me, Lewis felt that he wanted to tell me first.”
Max Verstappen suggested that both teams had been forced to make a premature announcement and predicted it could be a tough situation for Hamilton and Mercedes to navigate with a record 24 rounds to come.
While Wolff admits that the Dutchman may have had a point initially, he contends that the matter has now settled and all attention at Mercedes is on the upcoming campaign.
“The morale in the team and the dynamics we have this year has been over the winter, it’s been great,” Wolff answered when asked about Verstappen’s comments.
“We spend a lot of time trying to look to introspect and say, what is it that we can do better? And what we’re seeing is an organization that is really buzzing and is keen to fight and develop a car that’s quicker whilst sticking to our mindset and to our values. And this is something we want to deliver this year.
“And it may have been awkward at the beginning of how are we doing this for the rest of the season. But now everything has fallen into place and you know it’s just a concentration of the moment and the next race is to come.”
